Amir Khan More Questions Than Answers

On Saturday night Amir Khan continued his comeback with a unanimous decision victory over a brave Samuel Vargas. Although he won the fight his performance left me with more questions than answers.

In front of a sold out Arena Birmingham Amir Khan walked to the ring looking confident with the crowd expecting an early knockout and it looked like that was exactly what they were going to get when he dropped Vargas in the 2nd round. However Khan’s defensive frailties reared there ugly head again as he was put over by Vargas seconds before the end of the round.

As you can see Khan clearly won the fight I don’t think anyone can dispute that, however the Khan of 2 or 3 years ago would have finished off Vargas as soon as he had him hurt. Throughout the fight it looked like he didn’t have it in him to go through the gears to get the stoppage. In his post fight interview he was asked was he tired and he said no he wanted to go the distance because he wanted to see if he could still do it, now personally I think that’s rubbish no fighter wants to go 12 rounds they may train for it but that doesn’t mean they want to do it. I understand wanting to go a few rounds because he hasn’t fought that many rounds recently as he was destroyed in 6 rounds in his fight with Conelo Alvarez and his comeback fight against Paul Lo Greco only lasted 40 seconds. So wanting rounds under his belt I can fully understand but against an opponent like Vargas and I say this with no disrespect to Vargas I would have thought he would have wanted to make a statement. Now Khan V Vargas wasn’t the only fight on the bill on Saturday if you missed any of the action check out my Fight Night Review.

As you can see it’s seems that he was happy with his performance saying more than once that he could have taken Vargas out, but more than once he was saved by the bell. I know it might sound like am been harsh on him and I suppose I am but that’s only because he’s made it clear that he wants to win another world title before he retires and on that performance I can’t see that happening, if he fights like that against someone the calibre of Errol Spence Jr or Terence Crawford I can only see one thing happening and that’s him getting knocked out.

That’s enough about Saturdays fight I started this post by saying I have more questions than answers so here are some questions that Amir Khan hasn’t answered:

What weight should he fight at?

If you ask him he will say that Welterweight is his natural weight but before Saturday he hasn’t made Welterweight since 2015, and at the weigh in on Friday he struggled to make weight having to strip naked in order to come inside the weight limit and on fight night he didn’t look in the best shape. We know that Middleweight is too much for him. However what about Super Welterweight I know he’s only fought one fight at that weight and it only lasted 40 seconds. So maybe that wasn’t a true representation but in the build up to the Lo Greco fight he look fit, strong and healthy, He can clearly punch at that weight just look at the result.

Can he still win a world title?

On paper yes he can but as we’ve seen in his last two fights it shows fights are not fought on paper because many people thought Lo Greco would take him a few rounds and he wiped him out. At the same time many people were predicting an early knockout on Saturday and he ended up having to go the distance. So can he work his way into a world title shot yes definitely but can he win one honestly I’m not sure.

Is he past his best?

This might seem like a strange question to ask given the fact that he’s only 31 but I think it’s a fair question to ask, because on Saturday it looked like he didn’t see a lot of the shots coming and the ones he did see he was able to step to one side but he didn’t follow it up with a shot. Throughout the fight it looked like he was struggling to find that next level to force the stoppage. I know that by today standards 31 is not old, but in boxing it’s all about miles on the clock. Throughout his career his been in a number of very hard fights, have all those hard fights started to catch up with him.

Who should he fight next?

I think I speak for everyone involved in boxing fans, pundits and fellow boxers when I say it has to be Kell Brook, it doesn’t matter what weight the fight is fought at it just has to happen. People have been talking about this fight for over 5 years so I think it’s about time they both shut up and let their fists do the talking. I know he said that Manny Pacquiao is his number one target and yes a few years ago that would have been a fight that I would have paid good money to watch. There’s no question that Manny Pacquiao is a boxing great and a true legend of the sport but he’s well past his best. I know a lot of people will say that the Pacquiao fight would be for a world title and of course there right but Pacquiao isn’t the full WBA champion. I think the reason he wants the Pacquiao fight is not only because it would be a world title fight, I think it’s because he thinks he’s got a better chance of beating a 40 year old Pacquiao than he has at beating Brook. This may seem like a bold statement to make but I think a good Brook beats a good Khan.

These are just some of the questions that didn’t get answered after Saturdays performance, I’m sure we will get the answers to some of these in the coming weeks and months. In the meantime I love to hear what you guys think so please comment below and let me know your thoughts.